Introduction

The European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law was founded in Vienna at the beginning of 1999 with a two-fold purpose - on the one hand to create a secure institutional basis for the drafting of the Principles of European Tort Law by the European Group on Tort Law and, on the other hand, to undertake further research projects in the field of tort and insurance law.

In addition to scientists from almost all European Union countries as well as Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Lichtenstein, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United States of America, the members of the Board of Directors and the members of the Supervisory Board contribute to projects of the European Centre.

The aim of this broadly-based comparative research is to create the foundation for discussing a future harmonisation of the law of tort in the European Union, above all with respect to a possible codification of European Private Law. Further, the "Principles" shall form a stimulus for both academics and practitioners and could serve as a guideline for national legal systems, thereby leading to gradual legal harmonisation. Finally, the present isolated tort law regulations, which are at times themselves contradictory, require a uniform concept from the European Union.

The European Group on Tort law spent more than a decade on preparatory works for the Principles. During this time, the key elements of the law of delict were treated in seperate comparative studies published in the Unification of Tort Law Series by Kluwer Law International (The Hague/London/New York).

The Principles and the Commentary were presented to the public for the first time on May 19 and 20, 2005 in Vienna. At the same time, The European Group on Tort Law published its Principles of European Tort Law, accompanied by a Commentary and several translations, by Springer (Vienna/New York). The current version of the principles and several translations can be accessed on the Group's website. The Principles and the Commentary were presented and discussed at further conferences in Europe and in overseas.

The European Group on Tort Law is currently working on further aspects not yet covered by the Principles as they stand and envisages to produce an expanded and amended version of the Principles of European Tort Law.

The work of the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law is, however, not limited to the drafting of the Principles. In addition, the Centre is involved in many other comparative legal research studies, the results of which are published in the series "Tort and Insurance Law" until the end of 2009 by Springer (Vienna/New York) and since 2010 by de Gruyter (Berlin/Boston). Past and current research projects are presented in a separate [section on this website].

The European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law was founded in Vienna at the beginning of 1999 with a two-fold purpose - on the one hand to create a secure institutional basis for the drafting of the Principles and, on the other hand, to undertake further research projects in the field of tort law.